Fresh Blueberry Pie (Sugar-Free)

Fresh Blueberry Pie

This is a delightful, tasty pie! A lightly baked coconut-almond crust filled with a raw creamy blueberry filling. (Sugar-free, Wheat-free!) Full of antioxidants and healthy fats and nutrients.

If you happen to be following the Trim Healthy Mama eating plan, a small slice topped with stevia sweetened whipped cream would be a great (S) dessert. If you're not familiar with THM check out the web site or book reviews on Amazon or visit their Face Book page. There's a revolution of fluffy Mamas slimming down because of it!

Getting rid of sugar and wheat is something I've not been able to do in the past. Bread has always been my weakness, and though regular sugar has not had a place in my recipes for some time, maple syrup, coconut sugar and sucanat are not what I want to consume right now. Candida is an underlying concern so I'm even watching my fruit consumption. THM has delivered me from unnecessary sugar and wheat in my diet, and from those terrible late afternoon carb cravings! I'll explain more at a later time about what's been going on in my life and kitchen related to THM, but for now, on to this scrumptious recipe . . .

Coconut-Almond Crust

  




Processing the Filling

Oh so good!

Fresh Blueberry Pie (Sugar Free)

by Kathy Reynolds

Cook Time: 10 minutes

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A lightly baked coconut-almond crust filled with a raw creamy blueberry filling.

Ingredients

Crust Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond meal or flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 cup finely shredded coconut
• 5 Tbs melted butter
• 1 Tbs coconut oil
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 Tbs homemade Truvia (1 tsp pure Stevia per 1 cup Erythritol) or Stevia or other, taste to your liking

Blueberry Filling Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup raw cashews (or 1/4 cup cashew butter)
• 1 Tbs almond butter
• 2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (separated)
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 tsp salt (I like Pink Himalayan)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• Stevia to taste (equivalent to 2 or 3 Stevia packets)

Instructions

For Crust:

• Mix all ingredients well in a large bowl. Using your fingertips, pat the mixture into a glass pie plate until you form a pie crust. Bake in a 350 degree oven for approximately 10 minutes until lightly browned. Allow to cool.

For Filling:

• Place one cup of blueberries aside. Put all remaining ingredients into a food processor. Process well, stopping and scraping down batter several times. You should not be able to taste pieces of cashews in the mixture. When desired consistency is reached, mix in the one cup of blueberries that you set aside. Pour this raw filling into your crust. Smooth the top and dot with additional blueberries if desired. Refrigerate. Serve with stevia sweetened whipped cream or coconut cream for the topping.

I love to find new recipes and tweak them to my liking. My inspiration for this recipe came from here: Low Carb Almond Pie Crust  and Raw Blueberry Pie

Hemp Seed & Almond Meal Crackers

Hemp Seed & Almond Meal Crackers

My husband still buys plain ol' saltine crackers. I don't even try to dissuade him anymore, but once in awhile I'm tempted to. Recently, he bought several pounds of hemp seed and he likes to just eat it by the spoonful, but I wanted to use it in a recipe other than the usual throw-it-in-a-smoothie or on-a-salad (which is great too). Besides, I want wheat-free goodness!

Hemp seed is a superfood—A heart healthy, brain food, high in protein with many health benefits! 

I recently saw a raw Zucchini Hemp Banana Bread that sounded interesting, but I didn't have zucchini or bananas and I was in the mood for crackers and I wanted them quick, baked in the oven, to go with a chicken and wild rice soup I had planned for lunch. I found these Grain-Free Almond Sunny Seed Crackers from which I adapted my recipe. 

Yum! I loved these crispy Hemp Seed Crackers! 

(The soup was perfect too!)

Roll out and score

Baked

Hemp Seed & Almond Meal Crackers

by Kathy's Kitchen

Cook Time: 15 - 20 minutes

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High protein hemp seed crackers, baked to a golden brown.

Ingredients (Approx. 50-60 crackers)

• 1/2 cup hemp seed
• 1 and 1/2 cups almond meal (or flour)
• 2 Tbs. flax seed
• 2 Tbs. sunflower seeds
• 1/2 tsp pink salt
• 2 Tbs. nutritional yeast
• Pure onion and garlic powders
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 4 Tbs. cold water

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Mix all ingredients together, adding in olive oil and water last. I did not measure the onion and garlic powders, but sprinkled generously over the batter. Let sit for about 10 minutes.
• Take half the batter and roll into a ball and place on parchment paper that will fit a flat baking (cookie) sheet. Roll thin between two pieces of parchment paper to desired thickness.
• Remove the top parchment paper, place the bottom parchment paper with cracker dough onto your baking pan. Score with a knife to make cracker shapes.
• Bake for 15 - 20 minutes depending on thickness. Watch closely as they can turn very brown in a matter of minutes.
• Break apart, cool, and enjoy!
• Repeat, using the remaining batter to make a second batch of crackers.

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Break apart

Have you experimented with hemp seed? Do you have a favorite hemp seed or cracker recipe?

Linking up with Wellness Weekends 
and Whole Food Fridays

It's Detox Time! 3-Berry Smoothie

It's Detox Time!

For the past month I've made fresh vegetable/fruit juice just about every day. My husband and I have been trying to replace at least one meal a day with juicing. It's been a precursor to the detox diet that we started 5 days ago, and it's going great!

I liken our detox diet to the Hallelujah Diet of which I am familiar, but without the BarleyMax (I use my own powders/supplements). They promote an 85% raw, 15% cooked diet, made up of vegan choices. And glance at their testimonials and you'll see what a blessing it is to eat this way—for life!

But I'm not espousing a particular diet really, just whole "vegan and gluten-free" foods, mostly raw, and with no meat products for this time of detoxifying. And of course, fresh juicing to maximize our daily nutrient content and give the body something to enable us to heal.

What our detox includes:
Drinking a variety of fresh juiced vegetables and fruits
Healthy fruit and green smoothies
Raw fruits, vegetables and dehydrates
Big green salads
Steamed vegetables (been eating a lot of Brussel sprouts)
Homemade vegetable soups
Herbal tea
Fresh lemon/limeade
Nuts (no more than a handful)
Coconut oil

You're not ready, until you're ready!

Hubby and I both are beyond middle age. We're still young-at-heart, and so it's not fun when health issues interfere with life's enjoyment and our abilities. I feel like if I don't get serious now about true healthy living I might as well give up. I know we'll be making sacrifices—albeit good ones, as we change to better eating habits. I'm determined to—once and for all! I'm ready already.

I'd like to eventually proceed forward and make it a juice only detox, so I'm really preparing myself for when I feel the time is right. I'm inspired by documentaries like Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead and Hungry for Change. I find that a big part of making a lifestyle change or going on any diet for that matter, it takes the right timing, the right mental focus, and the right environment to make it a successful journey. I knew that now was the right time to begin. And having hubby on board makes it much more doable.

Our very first juice on day 1 was:  

Apple-Broccoli Juice

4 Granny Smith apples
1 lime
4 celery ribs
Bunch of cilantro
1 head of broccoli

I had never juiced broccoli before, but since I had plenty in the fridge I wanted to make good use of it, and I saw a recipe for Green Apple Pie Juice that stirred my interest. My Apple-Broccoli juice was so GOOD! I'm getting used to the taste of cilantro and it's useful to draw out heavy metals in the body.

This week I made another awesome smoothie recipe using blueberries (since we got such a great deal on frozen blueberries):

3-Berry Antioxidant Smoothie

This was a great tasting and so-good-for-you breakfast smoothie that utilizes three different berries: blueberries, blackberries and cranberries. One of the best sources of antioxidants, berries help to fight against aging and the chronic disease processes that many of us know about first hand. Even the American Institute for Cancer Research admits that blueberries are “. . .  substances that can slow the aging process and reduce cell damage that can lead to cancer.” Here are 7 Berries You Should Eat Everyday.

Not included in that list of 7 are cranberries, which when consumed in their raw form or juiced, have huge health benefits warding off urinary tract and yeast infections, dental plaque, and helps with blood sugar issues such as insulin resistance. See Cranberry juice benefits made simple.

3-Berry Antioxidant Smoothie

by Kathy's Kitchen

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Keywords: juicing raw gluten-free raw vegan

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A so-good-for-you antioxidant fruit smoothie that utilizes blueberries, blackberries and cranberries.

Ingredients

• 1 cup blueberries (raw, frozen or partially thawed)
• 1 cup blackberries (raw, frozen or partially thawed)
• 1 cup cranberries (raw, frozen or partially thawed)
• 1 Tbs. coconut oil
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 1 cup almond milk
• 2 Tbs. lime or lemon juice
• 1 tsp. spirulina powder (optional)
• 2 Tbs. green powder supplement (optional)
• 2 tsp. coconut sugar, maple syrup, or other sweetener

Instructions

• Add all ingredients into a high powered blender (like VItaMix) and using the tamper, blend until well combined. Pour and serve.

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Right now I've got naked kale chips in the dehydrator and when I get some more sunflower seeds I'll make some red hot snackers crackers, but I won't indulge, and now at day five I'm feeling past the terrible late afternoon cravings (thanks to the wonderful nutrients I'm giving my body and cells). I'm not having the sugar and chocolate cravings but hubby is still dealing with it, and at 270 lbs. he requires more food than I do so he eats a tad more. (I don't scold, I'm very glad and proud of him and he's losing weight faster than I am!)

So today, I look forward to feeling good, staying active, and slimming down. How about you?

Linking up with Gluten-Free Cat and  Raw Foods Thursdays 

Apple Fritter Flaxcakes—Focus on Wheat-Free

It's a brand new year and great timing to start implementing a wheat & gluten-free diet plan. This morning I fixed a delightful pancake alternative that reminds me a lot of a yummy apple fritter.

 Apple Fritter Flaxcakes

I'll get to this easy recipe in a few minutes, but it looks like I took a six month hiatus—and in fact that's exactly what I did! This summer I went to Florida on vacation where I conveniently decided to let my diet choices have a lot of flexibility. I stuck to whole foods where possible but I allowed wheat and dairy to make a prominent return. In a way I looked at it as an experiment of sorts. Were my dietary choices at the time really making such a difference? I was to find out.

Well, six months and several holiday feasts later, my clothes are fitting very tight! Though I felt stagnant with weight loss last summer, at least I wasn't gaining, and there's something to be said for that. Health wise, I've had great success with supplementation help from my ND in curbing my Atrial Fibrillation attacks. I've had ZERO attacks in six months! I couldn't be happier there, so despite my thicker waistline, I'm wearing my happy face every morning! But, it's time to get geared up and deal with the inflammation issues, again. 

My main focus: WHEAT-FREE

This recipe was one I adapted from a recipe I saw in Nourish & Heal magazine.

Apple Fritter Flaxcakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

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Focus: wheat-free A tasty, yet healthier pancake alternative.

Ingredients (6 flaxcakes)

• 2 organic eggs
• 4 Tbs ground flaxseed
• 2 medium apples
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 4 tsp sucanat (or other dry sweetener)
• coconut oil

Instructions

• Combine eggs, flaxseed, spices and sucanat. Cut apples into small chunks and mix into batter.
• Coat bottom of frying pan with coconut oil and when hot, spoon batter to make three flaxcakes, and flatten and form to shape.
• Cook several minutes over medium heat and when browned flip and cook opposite side 'til lightly browned.

Apples are cut into small chunks and mixed into batter.

 Batter, ready to make flaxcakes.

Top with fruit or maple syrup and enjoy!

Raw Strawberry Cream Pie

Raw Strawberries, 
a Nut Crust, and Cashew Cream—
Makes a Perfect Pie! 

Berry season is here and I couldn't be more delighted. We're stocking up, and making room in the freezer too!

I made this raw strawberry treat for my guests on Memorial Day, and they scraped their plates! It's the perfect dessert for a July 4th celebration, summertime entertaining, or a family get-together.

  

The Nut Crust

My pie crust is made with a combination of three different nuts: 

Walnuts
Brazil nuts
Almonds

Line the crust with sliced strawberries

Add the cashew cream center

Raw Strawberry Cream Pie

by Kathy's Kitchen

Keywords: raw dessert gluten-free raw soy-free vegan pie spring summer

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Who doesn't LOVE the deliciousness of raw strawberries 'n' cream?

Ingredients

Crust:

• 2 cups of raw nuts (I used a combination of walnuts, Brazil nuts, and almond flour)
• 1 cup of date paste cut in pieces (or pitted dates)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt

Cashew Cream Filling:

• 2 cups of raw cashews
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1/4 cup of coconut butter
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (I used slightly less)
• 1 tsp real vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp coconut sugar

Strawberry Topping:

• 2 cups of fresh strawberries
• 1 tsp of fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbs of pure maple syrup
• Handful of fresh blueberries (optional)

Instructions

• 1. Combine ingredients for crust in a food processor. Blend well until moist and a little sticky. Press the mixture into a pie plate along the bottom and sides. If you like, you can add a little fine coconut underneath to help keep crust from sticking.
• 2. Cut the washed strawberries into slices and line the crust in a single layer. Set aside the rest.
• 3. Make the cashew cream filling by placing all ingredients into a high-powered blender (like a Vita-Mix), being careful to mix, using the tamper, for short spurts of time. It's very thick! You will need to push down the sides several times. Pour cream mixture into the pie plate and spread evenly. *
• 4. Mix in the lemon juice and maple syrup with the remaining strawberries. Make a pattern along the outward crust with the slices, and then dump the rest into the middle and spread until the top is evenly covered. Dot with blueberries as desired.

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* Pop into the freezer for 20 minutes or refrigerate for one hour before proceeding to step 4 where you add the topping.

Keep refrigerated and enjoy!

Summer is Sweeter 

with Raw Strawberry Pie

Linking up to Gluten -Free Cat and Raw Foods Thursdays

and Real Food Wednesdays with Kelly the Kitchen Kop

and Foodie Friends Friday Sweet Treats Party!

Raw Chocolate Avocado-based Pudding

Get Your Chocolate Fix the Healthy Way—

Raw Chocolate Pudding

I've made avocado-based raw puddings before so I know how tasty (and nutritious) they are! I hadn't made a chocolate version yet, so here's what I came up with today.

This is one healthy treat that I would have loved to make and feed to my boys when they were growing up. Well, now I can treat them when they are here to visit, and meanwhile I can treat myself and Hubby.

Raw Chocolate Pudding

by Kathy's Kitchen, Health, & Nutrition

Prep Time: 10 min

Keywords: raw pudding dessert

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I added in the coconut sugar after the pudding was already made, as it just needed a bit more sweetener. Most of the time I use stevia in smoothies and drinks, but I love the taste of organic raw coconut sugar and I thought this might be a good use for a bit. It was.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

• 2 medium size ripe avocados
• 1 large ripe banana
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/3 cup raw cacao powder
• 2 Tbsp brown rice syrup
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1-2 Tbsp coconut sugar

Instructions

• Place all ingredients in a high-powered blender (like Vita-Mix) and pulse at first. Then blend until very smooth. You many need to stop and stir a few times. Pour into one large or two medium sized dessert cups and refrigerate until cold. Enjoy!

Last year I bought two bags of raw cacao powder before Christmas. I'm still into my first bag so I guess I don't make chocolately things too often. Plus, for a time I was not eating chocolate at all. I missed it! I look on raw cacao a bit differently than other candy bar chocolates or processed cocoa, and I believe in its health benefits. There is a difference between commercial chocolate which has no health benefits and organic dark chocolate, the kind with no added sugar.

Is it just hype, that raw chocolate 

is good for you?  

Do some research and decide for yourself. Eating large amounts of cacao can be detrimental especially if it is not the raw organic kind, and even then I wouldn't overdo it, but certainly the raw version is the healthier choice.

I know of one person who eats chocolate medicinally to help with depression. It works for him. Raw cacao is also high in antioxidant flavanoids, sulfur and magnesium. Its essential fatty acids are believed to help the body to raise good cholesterol and lower bad cholesterol.

According to the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity scale (shown below), raw cocoa powder is tops, even much higher than goji berries and blueberries which we hear about so often. The thing is, you can eat a considerable amount of these berries with no side effects, whereas if you consumed large amounts of chocolate or cocoa you'd expose yourself to the dangers of too much oxalic acid (interferes with calcium absorption), theobromine (affects our nervous system), and of course caffeine. Keep this in mind.

Raw cocoa powder ranks highest of the Top 10 Antioxidant Foods (per 100 grams) 

1) Raw cocoa powder 95,500

2) Raw cacao nibs 62,100

3) Roasted cocoa powder 26,000

4) Organic Goji Berries 25,300

5) Acai Berries 18,500

6) Dark Chocolate 13,120

7) Milk Chocolate 6,740

8) Prunes 5,770

9) Raisins 2,830

10) Blueberries 2,400

Source: US department of Agriculture/Journal of American Chemical Society

References and Related links:

Examining the Properties of Chocolate and Cacao for Health

Nutritional Benefits of Raw Cacao (Raw chocolate) 

Linking up with Wellness Wednesday

Kale Chips and a New Favorite Raw Cookbook!

Kale Chips—

Where Have You Been All My Life?

Potato chips . . . you are no longer longed for . . .

My friend Lynne, makes some of the best raw food snacks, including her yummy, crunchy kale chips. My cousin, John, who basks (and probably does other things) in Hawaii and grows his own kale among other green beauties, recently posted on Facebook about eating homemade kale chips. Well, instead of admiring them from afar, it was finally time to make my own!

You all know the benefits of eating your greens, and this is a most delightful way to do it—RAW, no less!

I bought two different types of kale, a standard dark green curly type, and a new variety with some pretty purple splashes of color. For this occasion I made two different recipes: Pizza Kale Chips (in the photo above) and Naked Kale Chips (pictured below). 

The recipes were from my new favorite raw food cookbook: Practically Raw by Amber Shea Crawley. Get this—she devotes a whole chapter to kale chips! After reading those recipes I decided that I could not let another week pass by without making my own.

FYI:  Amber's recipe for Pizza Kale Chips is online so there's no need to share it with you here. I left out the fennel seed and I substituted a tomato for the red bell pepper. I picked a few basil leaves to add as well.

 

Naked Kale Chips!

Practically Raw is a unique cookbook or uncookbook. Let me tell you why I'm so enamored with it. This beautiful book is filled with full-color photos. I love to see the pic of the dish I'm making, don't you? 

The innovative side of this book is that it has instructions for two ways to make each recipe—a raw version and a baked version! I own many raw food prep books and I've never seen this before. Plus, there are recipe variations and ingredient substitutions for every recipe—quite useful, for the way I use recipes these days. Plus it has even more features that I love like health and nutritional information, menus, and a resource list.

 
As I read through the chapters of this book I kept a running list of recipes that I had to try. My list is at around 40 recipes at this point, and I'm not quite finished looking through the book yet! That's not the typical response I've had with many other recipe books I own! So many yummy sounding, stress-free recipes that I'm wanting to make—yippee!

Just a few on my list are raw Graham Crackers, Basic Nut and Mexican Cheddar Cheese, Flaxjacks Pancakes, Brazil Nut Bread, Coconut-Vanilla Kale Chips, Spinach-Walnut Pesto Pasta, Almond Butter Sesame Noodles, Stuffed Peppers and Wild Rice—all RAW of course! But if I want, I can speed up the process and use the cooked version.

Did you notice the Coconut-Vanilla Kale Chips mentioned above? You should see the dessert type kale chips you can make! There are Chocolate and Maple-Pecan also!

Pizza Kale Chips ready for the dehydrator

Naked Kale Chips ready to dehydrate

The Naked Kale Chip recipe was a little simpler to make and less mess. One thing about making the Pizza recipe is that the coating is made in a blender and it is very thick, so thick that some sticks in the blender and you really can't get it all out.

Naked Kale Chips

by Kathy's Kitchen, Health, & Nutrition

Keywords: dehydrates raw vegan snack

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For Naked Kale Chips you just stir the following in a large bowl:

Ingredients

• 1 Tbs of olive oil
• 1 tsp. of fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp of sea salt

Instructions

• Then add this mixture with your washed and chopped big bunch of kale leaves (with hard stems removed), massaging into all the leaves. Place on Teflex lined dehydrator sheets and dry for 8 or more hours. I made mine in the evening and let them dry til morning.

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Then, like my cousin in Hawaii says: 

"You eat them all in a single sitting." 

And that's pretty much what happened to ours.

Enjoy Kale Chips, your way!

For more kale delights and kale information visit Diana Dyer, MS, RD at 365 Days of Kale, also from where I borrowed this pic:

Linking up with Gluten-Free Cat and  Raw Foods Thursdays!

Josh's Jacuzzi Green Smoothie

Josh's Jacuzzi

Green Smoothie

One habit Hubby and I enjoy most every weekend is our Jacuzzi bath in the fabulously remodeled bathroom he did for us last year (thanks again Hun). But someone else usually joins us on this semi-romantic, de-stressing interlude—Josh Groban (in song, of course)!

So, it's in honor of my love for Josh's magical voice that I've named this smoothie, specially prepared for one almost-heaven Jacuzzi morn.

Josh's Jacuzzi Green Smoothie 

Ingredients:
1/2 cup apple juice 
3 oranges, peeled, cut and seeded
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbs. coconut oil
Stevia to taste (about 1/4th a packet)
1 pear sliced and cored
1 banana sliced (frozen if preferred)
Bunch of organic spinach

Add the first 5 ingredients into a high-powered blender (like VitaMix) and blend until smooth. Next, add the pear and banana slices and blend again. Lastly, add the spinach while using the tamper to push it down while blending. 

Don't let stress bog you down. It's not enough to just "eat right." Enjoy this great tasting, nutritious treat, and find time to relax and take joy in the simple pleasures of life! 

To Where You Are—Josh—You Raise Me Up!

For more info about our life of juicing and a list of many other juicing and smoothie recipes check out the post: A Juicing Lifestyle

 Linking up with Gluten-Free Cat and Raw Foods Thursdays